Andrea Bocelli shines at Milwaukee concert, and shares his light with 12-year-old daughter

Andrea Bocelli's extraordinary talent paved the way for an extraordinary life.

Fans who gathered for his second 30th anniversary tour stop celebration Saturday at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee saw it flash before their eyes on the stage's big screen. Even the most adamant admirer of the 65-year-old's career may have been stunned by the sheer number of milestones in the montage: the "Music for Hope" virtual concert during the pandemic from Duoma di Milano, singing at Ground Zero in the aftermath of Sept. 11, a concert at the Pyramids in Egypt, and on and on.

But there was one event that wasn't mentioned. Bocelli's first tour date in front of a live audience in the aftermath of a devastating pandemic was at this very arena on Oct. 13, 2021 — a night that likely was an indelible memory for its audience, and possibly for Bocelli himself.

More: Andrea Bocelli talks to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about returning to touring in 2021

Alas, a bout with COVID-19 prevented me from attending that show, so I can't make a comparison with Bocelli's return Saturday. The context for Saturday night's appearance was not as dramatic.

But during a two-act concert that included 29 compositions and two hours and five minutes of music (not including the montages and a 20-minute intermission), Bocelli seemed determined to make this evening equally memorable.

More: Milwaukee duo SistaStrings performed at Oscars' In Memoriam segment with Andrea Bocelli

Backed all night by the sublime sophistication of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra — and, at times, about 60 radiant singers from the Master Singers of Milwaukee — Bocelli achieved this goal almost instantly Saturday.

He is a household name, but he also has a household voice, his tenor so exquisite it imprints itself on your memory. But hearing it live is an entirely different, often visceral experience, with Giuseppe Verdi's immortal canzone "La donna è mobile," from his 1851 opera "Rigoletto," serving as an impactful introduction Saturday, demonstrating the grandeur of Bocelli's instrument and the tenderness of its restraint.

Powerful as his performance was, Bocelli was just getting started. His voice was flawless across the opera selections that dominated the first act, but it shined deep into the night — and at times reached new milestones — like a jaw-dropping note he held for a full 20 seconds at the end of Consuelo Velázquez's marvelous 1932 bolero "Bésame Mucho."

Singular as Bocelli's talent was Saturday, he wasn't the only singer who demonstrated breath-taking vocal stamina.

The highlight of the night's first act didn't belong to Bocelli but to baritone Edward Parks' performance of Gioachino Rossini's classic aria "Largo al factotum" from the 1816 opera buffa "The Barber of Seville." Initially belting offstage, Parks was a comic force of nature, his physical expressions every bit as entertaining as his delightfully dizzying singing. Eyes dashing wildly from side to side like Jack Black, sprinkled with an over-the-top eyebrow lift the Rock would admire, Parks peppered his performance with cheeky mimicry of conductor Steven Mercurio's wave of his baton, and then tapped his wrist for a climactic vocal note that seemingly would never come to an end.

Parks was one of five special musical guests who performed with Bocelli Saturday, each of them given at least one song to take center stage while Bocelli took a breather. And all five of them were so gifted that, truthfully, Bocelli wasn't missed.

Soprano Cadie J. Bryan was the evening's third outstanding opera singer, making a goose-bump-inducing first impression with radiant aria "O mio babbino caro" from Giacomo Puccini's 1918 opera "Gianni Schicchi," and her accompaniment for Bocelli's most beloved premiere, "Con te partirò," was just as crucial Saturday to its power as the tenor's own voice.

On the instrumental side, master flutist Andrea Griminelli accompanied the hometown heroes, his piercing notes for "Gabriel's Oboe" from "The Mission," featured in a medley of scores from the late film composer Ennio Morricone, as shimmering as his sequin-coated instrument.

And Pia Toscano — you might remember her from Season 10 of "American Idol" in 2011, which featured Milwaukee native Naima Adedapo — had the unenviable task of singing Celine Dion's "The Power of Love" and her parts for the Dion-Bocelli collaboration "The Prayer," but her piercing voice was more stunning than it was from her "Idol" days. I have no idea what Toscano's acting abilities are like, but if anyone ends up making a Dion biopic, give her an audition.

But the most beloved special guest — likely for much of the audience, and certainly for Bocelli — was Bocelli's daughter Virginia, who turned 12 late last month. Her voice was surprisingly hushed for much of her father-free performance of Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up," but that made the powerhouse finish all the more impressive. But her most beautiful display was standing by her father, who sat on a stool and elegantly strummed acoustic guitar, for a version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

Indie-rock auteur St. Vincent is spot on when she recently suggested that Cohen's signature song has been vastly overplayed. But this rendition — starting so simply, with Victoria on vocals over just her father's acoustic guitar, the pair trading verses, singing together in Italian and English, before the MSO and, most powerfully, the chorus surged in for the finish — was among the most stirring renditions of this song I've ever heard. Sitting right in front of me, and right to the left of me, two women, before the performance was finished, were wiping away tears.

If there was one moment out of many memorable moments Saturday that will stay with this capacity crowd, it would have to be that one.

But before Bocelli departed, he offered one other sweet gesture that will stick with his Milwaukee fans. As he wowed the audience for the umpteenth time Saturday with "Nessun dorma," the show-stopping aria from Giacomo Puccini's posthumous opera "Turandot" — a selection that wasn't listed in the program — he proudly wore a Milwaukee Bucks jacket.

5 takeaways from Andrea Bocelli’s Fiserv Forum concert

• In addition to the special guest musicians, there were special guest dancers Saturday. Franceso Costa and Angelica Gismondo performed all of their routines together, their unity and occasional opposition the focal point for a lush medley of classic Leonard Bernstein compositions from "West Side Story"; while Brittany O'Connor enhanced a few selections solo with her interpretive dancing, her physicality blossoming and withering in synchronization with the symphony and Bocelli's emotional resonance for "Come un bel dì di maggio," a tenor aria from the fourth and final act of Umberto Giordano's 1896 opera "Andrea Chénier."

• There was a fourth interpretive dancer — although David Garibaldi is officially a painter. When Bocelli and Parks paired up for "Au fond du temple saint," a duet from the first act of 1863 opera "Les pêcheurs de perles" by Georges Bizet, Garibaldi, at the foot of the stage, his black pants covered in splotches of paint, was dancing to the music, brush in hand, making hard strokes and dusting a canvas with splatter. After a few minutes, what Garibaldi was drawing became clear: It was a profile of a smiling Bocelli, which he was actually painting upside down. Bids were taken Saturday night for the painting to benefit the Andrea Bocelli Foundation.

• Conductor Steven Mercurio had a crucial job, but he was an entertaining showman in his own right, at times actually bouncing from his perch as he guided the orchestra and choir. At one point, he amusingly conducted the audience to sing along to Luigi Denza's 1880 classic "Funiculì, Funiculà."

• This was the finest-dressed audience I've seen at a Fiserv Forum concert, with many women in lovely dresses and men in sharp suits (that put my $10 black polo shirt and worn gray New Balance sneakers to shame). And there was an added bit of elegance for anyone sitting on the floor — it was entirely covered Saturday with a red carpet.

• If you've been to a show at Fiserv Forum, you'll notice when you're heading out on the big video screen in the lobby four digital posters for upcoming shows that should interest the show-goer. (If it's country, it usually promotes country shows, rock promotes rock, and so on.) On Saturday, the featured shows included Barry Manilow (of course), Heart and comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. And the fourth featured show: "Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live Glow Party." I'm not so sure there's any overlap on that Venn diagram.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with the correct age of Virginia Bocelli.

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Andrea Bocelli and his 12-year-old daughter shine at Milwaukee concert